We spent the day in Bangkok with Mike and Eadie, and words can’t easily convey the fun, generosity, thoughtfulness and kind spirits of these two people. We weren’t originally planning to do this, but after Erika had a conversation with them, they planned out our day, and it was lovely. It started at 9am, with a pick up from the hotel, a visit to JJ Market, the vegetable market, lunch, then the Jim Thompson House, where I also got the glass on my phone replaced.

JJ (Chatuchak)Market – this weekend market has everything you could ever need with 10,000 vendors selling all kinds of goods: plants, pets, food and drinks, fresh and dry food, home goods, furniture and home decor, clothing, and books. We entered the market in the pet section and the puppies and kittens were adorable. There were many other pets such as squirrels, birds, turtles, and stag beetles. The market was fascinating, rather rustic, and a maze of never ending stuff organized in different sections. I found a few things I couldn’t pass up, but just loved walking through and experiencing the Thai culture.we stopped at a Royal Project Market, which was all foods from the northern part of Thailand. During the 70s, opium farming caused wide deforestation on mountains in the North. Hilltribe people at that time grew rice and opium. Rice was grown for family consumption while opium was the main source of income. One of the projects do his majesty King Bhumibol was the Royal Project Foundation with the aim of improving the quality of life of these people, diminish opium growing and revive forests and water.

There was an older woman at the market making beautiful garland by stringing jasmine flowers. While only lasting a day, the scent was so strong and they are used for shrines, weddings, and greeting visitors.

The vegetable market was not nearly as big, but was all food, and much more than veggies. Fascinating to see things we don’t see at home. Durian fruit, grapes called witches fingers, mangosteen, rambutan, longan, rose apples, jackfruit and more. I was excited to buy dried pomelo, which I had for the first time in Cyprus.

Next was lunch. We went to a lovely restaurant indoors, and Eadie ordered for all of us a selection of Thai dishes with pork, papaya, tofu, chicken, and a crab omelet. Here a Thai omelet is not just for breakfast and is fluffier because it’s cooked in oil. Everything was delicious. We finished the meal,with coconut ice cream, which had bread at the bottom

Our last stop was the Jim Thomson House. Jim was born in Greenville Delaware, and studied architecture at the university of Pennsylvania. He moved to Thailand after leaving the military and found the Thai Silk Company Limited. The firm achieved a coup in 1951 when designer Irene Sharaff made use of Thai silk fabrics for the musical, The King and I. From then on, the company prospered. In 1967 he disappeared while in Malaysia never to be heard from again. We were surprised not to learn more about the silk during our tour of the house.

While visiting the house Eadie made arrangements to get the glass on my phone fixed after I dropped it and spidered the screen. A messenger came to the house to pick up the phone and an hourish later dropped it back off at the house. What service. I’m 90% sure I won’t be able to find that outside of Bangkok.

Our last thing was a meeting with everyone in our group, and an introduction to our CEO, chief experience officer, Amy. This is where we learned that we are leaving at 7am tomorrow for our first group adventure to the River Kwai.